LAS VEGAS — The University of Hawaii is still struggling to finish football games, and because it is, the avowed goal of a postseason is, for all intents and purposes, finished, too.
LAS VEGAS — The University of Hawaii is still struggling to finish football games, and because it is, the avowed goal of a postseason is, for all intents and purposes, finished, too.
With quarterback Dru Brown’s last-gasp pass attempt to Keelan Ewaliko in the end zone falling incomplete as time expired Saturday night, you’d have to say the ‘Bows’ hopes are RIP, terminated with them in a 31-23 loss to Nevada-Las Vegas.
Mathematically the ‘Bows could still win their final three games and meet the minimum requirement of 6-6 for bowl eligibility, of course. (Teams have earned bowl berths despite 5-7 records, but such an outcome is unlikely.) But to have witnessed their sixth loss in seven games and the declining number of suitably healthy players on the offensive line and elsewhere speaks to the grim reality of a situation that finds UH at 3-6 (1-5 in the Mountain West).
In some seasons there would be a measure of hope in Fresno State, Utah State and Brigham Young, not exactly your Murderer’s Row, comprising the tail-end opposition. But beating three consecutive teams of any ilk when UH has won but once since Sept. 3 is to project hope that is unwarranted based on recent results.
Maybe UH wouldn’t face such uphill climbs at the end of games if it could start them more efficiently.
But three fourths of the way through this season the Rainbow Warriors still have yet to score on an opening drive. UH took the option to receive the opening kickoff both to make sure it had the south wind favorably at its back in the fourth quarter on a breezy night at Sam Boyd Stadium and to try to end its early frustrations.
Neither paid off.
UH couldn’t manage a score on its opening possession and was unable to come up with a touchdown on its final two drives.
It did get a 27-yard Alex Trifonovitch field goal — the third of the night — on its penultimate drive, but after giving up 21 unanswered points at one juncture in the third quarter, that wasn’t nearly enough.
So UNLV, which came in with an identical 3-5 record, keeps the “Ninth Island Showdown” trophy that debuted with this game.
No trophy came with it, but the Rebels also have their first back-to-back victories over fellow Football Bowl Subdivision opponents since 2013.
The Rebels also claimed the distinction of winning their fifth game in a row against UH in the desert and seventh in the past eight meetings.
While UH has significantly lessened its propensity for penalties and cut back on turnovers (11 quarters now without committing one), it is still falling short elsewhere with dropped passes, special teams and defensive breakdowns.
UH, which pulled off an on-side kick, got snookered by UNLV’s version in the third quarter that set up a 28-13 lead. “I think that is unacceptable,” Rolovich said afterward.
And when UH needed a stop or two its defense was unable to deliver, as the Rebels ran 6 minutes and 45 seconds off the clock on a 14-play, 63-yard drive that produced a fourth-quarter field goal after the ‘Bows had closed to 28-20 with 11 minutes, 46 seconds left.
In a season that has seen UH assume a prominent role in opposing quarterbacks’ highlight videos, this time it was Johnny Stanton who starred.
Two weeks after playing linebacker and serving on special teams for the Rebels, he had a career day at UH’s expense. Stanton completed 18 of 26 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns without an interception and ran for another score, supplying the finishing kick UNLV needed.
And, kicking UH to the postseason curb.